Time Warner Cable customers who experience a loss of Internet, television or phone service will now have to wait 10 days for a technician to visit their homes. Subscribers who attempt to replace defective equipment at the Time Warner Cable walk-in center, in the Queens Center Mall, are required to take a number and in some instances have been forced to endure a four-hour wait before seeing a customer service representative.
Dropped Internet connections, phone outages and pixilated and frozen TV screens have become a common occurrence with the unreliable product provided by Time Warner Cable. This is outrageous and unacceptable.
Cable services are no longer a luxury — they are necessities of modern society. First responders, businesses, students, educators, medical providers and families, to name but a few, depend on Internet access for everything from saving lives to staying in touch with relatives and friends. Telephones remain an important safety net and television brings the world to many senior citizens and people who may be homebound.
Elected officials have been conspicuous by their silence when it comes to the issue of dependable cable service for city residents. I hope constituent concerns are not taking a back seat to the interests of big business.
I call upon the City Council, state Senate and state Assembly to hold public hearings concerning Time Warner Cable operations. There can be no more excuses. Time Warner Cable must either get its act together or get out of the city.
Warren Schreiber
Bayside
